


The Illusionist's Spider

by orphan_account



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), Spider-Man - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Gen, Good Friend Ned Leeds, Illusions, Manipulated Peter Parker, Manipulative Quentin Beck, Michelle Jones Is a Good Bro, Michelle Jones Needs a Hug, Mind Control, Mind Control Aftermath & Recovery, Mind Games, Mind Manipulation, Minor Betty Brant/Ned Leeds, Ned Leeds Needs a Hug, Ned Leeds is a Good Bro, Not Spider-Man: Far From Home Mid-Credits Scene Compliant, Out of Character Peter Parker, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Peter Parker Works for Quentin Beck, Peter Parker is a Little Shit, Peter Parker is a Mess, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Post-Endgame, Post-Spider-Man: Homecoming, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Protective Michelle Jones, Quentin Beck Being a Jerk, Sassy Peter Parker, Spider-Man: Far From Home (Movie), Villain Quentin Beck, Worried May Parker (Spider-Man)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-10
Updated: 2019-12-10
Packaged: 2021-02-26 01:34:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,345
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21585457
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Michelle stared at her new boyfriend in confusion, sitting at the table in the London hotel's breakfast bar, noting how exhausted and run-down he looked."You're acting weird," she pointed out, furrowing her brow."You always say that," Peter said nonchalantly before his head drooped forwards, falling on top of the table."But like— exceptionally weird." The girl sighed, gently reaching her hand out, combing her fingers through his fluffy chocolate hair. "Are you coming to the museum?" She asked, referring to the undamaged museum in London."No." Peter sat up, messaging his temples, eyes closed. "I mean I can't.."(Dialogue by cartercreep on Instagram and Tumblr)~What if something else had happened before the train hit? What if something..forced Peter to turn to the wrong side?What if Peter Parker took on the mantle of Illusion Spider under the cold, watchful eyes of a new mentor?And what if that mentor... Was Quentin Beck?(Original Au idea created by cartercreep on Instagram and Tumblr.)
Relationships: Michelle Jones & Ned Leeds & Peter Parker, Michelle Jones & Peter Parker, Michelle Jones/Peter Parker, Quentin Beck & Peter Parker
Kudos: 27





	The Illusionist's Spider

**Author's Note:**

> This is based off of the incredible alternate universe created by cartercreep on Instagram and Tumblr. Their art for this Au— actually, their art in general is amazing, and I really wanted to do something for their ideas concerning poor Peter being manipulated by Quentin Beck and his illusions.
> 
> Don't worry, I'm still working on The Spider and the Fly. I'm just taking a break from revising chapters for a little bit.

The car ride up to the Berlin S.H.I.E.L.D. base was tensely silent— except for the irritating beeping of the alert that someone’s seatbelt isn't buckled.

Just a few hours ago, Peter Parker had thought he would have spent most of the night with his long-time crush, Michelle Jones, in Prague before their Midtown High class would leave Europe and head back to New York after the Molten Man Elemental caused havoc during Prague’s Carnival of Lights event.

Everything had gone great. Until Michelle uncovered a high-tech projector covered in a strand of his webbing. Until that same projector came to life, displaying a hyper-realistic scene of Mysterio fighting against a tornado, wind-like Elemental.

And now he was here, next to Nick Fury, inside an ebony black S.H.I.E.L.D. car.

Tall buildings made out of mostly glass windows with concrete frames surrounded the car when it pulled into a parking garage, two S.H.I.E.L.D. security guards in dark blue t-shirts with black caps, shoes and pants wielding assault rifles standing on either side of the cracked pavement, in front of the immaculate building.

Once they had gotten inside the silver and aqua-blue glass building, Peter couldn’t keep an awed look off of his face under the coal black mask of his “Night Monkey” stealth suit while he climbed three flights of stairs up to Fury’s office, despite the dire circumstances and the piece of cold metal evidence he held tightly in his fingerless glove.

“So… Is there anything you’d like to tell us about your girlfriend?” Fury asked, doors sliding shut behind him, as he strode towards the other end of a long, white conference table where Maria Hill stood at attention, hands clasped behind her back.

Peter felt his cheeks turn pink, as a blush started to creep up his neck.  _ My… My girlfriend? MJ— MJ’s not my girlfriend! What the hell? Why do they assume— _

“He’s talking about E.D.I.T.H.,” Maria Hill said, almost like she read his thoughts.

_ Oh. _

“Look, I know I made a mistake, and I’m sorry, but he is  _ not _ who you think he is,” Peter began, lifting the white lenses of his mask up to expose his chocolate puppy-dog eyes. “Beck is a liar. Mysterio, the Elementals, it’s all fake. He has some sort of illusion tech, and that’s how he tricked you guys and how he tricked me into giving him E.D.I.T.H.”

Peter slid the illusionist’s projector towards the middle of the table. He saw Fury’s eyebrow quirk up, as he and his partner stared at it with peaked intrigument.

“It’s a projector,” the sixteen year-old explained. “I pulled it off the fire monster in Prague.”   


Fury placed one hand on the back of a white chair. “So all that death and destruction we witnessed was created by this?” He looked back at Hill, almost like he didn’t believe the young Avenger.

“No, not just this.” Peter internally winced when he heard how desperate his voice sounded. “I think he’s using drones.” He unconsciously made awkward hand gestures to prove his point. 

“Well, if this is true then Beck's very dangerous, and we need to be smart.” Fury looked back at Hill who gave a curt nod. His attention directed back to Peter. “Who else did you tell?”   
The vacationing hero stiffened, a frantic prickling at the base of his neck sending goosebumps up and down his arms made him look distracted. His eyes focused on something over his shoulder, heart starting to beat faster.

“Parker?”

Something wasn’t right. Something was wrong. Very, very wrong.

“Parker!” Fury’s sharp tone made his eyes snap back to focus on the one-eyed man.

“What’s wrong?” Hill asked, strangely calm.

“It’s Beck. He’s here,” Peter said abruptly. He pulled his lenses down over his eyes, just as Fury pulled out a dark black pistol.

“What?” The older man glanced to Hill, only to see her calm stature and the world around them dissipate into nothingness. “Hill?”

Panic snuck its way into the teenager’s body, while he looked around frantically to see the S.H.I.E.L.D. base illusion dissipate into a dark, vacant warehouse site.

All the highly dangerous Elemental illusions, the several thousand lies wired into his brain that shot out of his mouth like bullets…

“No, it’s just an ill—” Peter was flung to the side when a holographic Stark Industries drone exploded through the wall behind him.

A bullet shot out from its gun cannon, sending Fury slamming into a picture, blood pooling out from a rounded wound in his abdomen.

“Fury!” Peter stood up immediately, eyes wide in panic under his mask. Whirling around to face the drone who shot the person that sabotaged his trip, he was completely blindsided by the bullet that struck through his leather jacket.

The force of the bullet sent him flying backwards out of the room, over the railing of the floor the “conference room” was built on with a loud yelp.

His chest hit the second floor before his back hit the fourth one down.

Hitting the cement ground of the parking garage with a harsh grunt, he started coughing through his thick mask, several drones flying through the broken windows.

“Wow, Peter. Wow.” Beck’s voice echoed through invisible speakers, reverberating from the walls surrounding the spider-themed hero. “I thought we were close.”   


Peter staggered to his feet, expecting to feel blood gushing from his chest, but all he could feel was the kevlar of a built-in bullet proof vest.

“Fury always had to die,” Beck chided from all around him. “But not you.”

Drones circled the downed Avenger, green lasers pointing at his body from all sides.

“Stop hiding, Beck!” He called, eyes narrowing underneath the white lenses of his mask.

“Who says I’m hiding, Peter? _Am_ I hiding?”

Peter looked around frantically, as his surroundings turned into a dark school hallway. His stealth suit melted away in a flurry of blue checkers to expose his red and blue Stark enhanced suit.

The suit Tony gave him.

The superhero was still distraught and overly stressed about his mentor’s death. He could barely wear either of his suits.

Especially that one.

“Y’know, Peter… We could still be allies,” Beck’s taunting voice said, as the “interdimensional warrior” appeared from the green fog behind Peter.

The Avenger tried slamming his fist into his helmet before giving a small cry of pain and nursing his injured hand when he hit a concrete beam, one of many that supported the building.

The Mysterio illusion disappeared, and Peter was left alone once again inside the dark hallway.

“Didn’t you want to run after that girl?” Beck taunted.

MJ?!” Peter whirled around when he heard the sound of Michelle’s panicked voice.

“Help me!”   


Peter shoved a door open and let out a panicked, “Woah!”, arms flailing to keep his balance.

He was on the top of the Eiffel Tower.

“Peter? What’s going on?” Michelle, who was wearing the same outfit he had seen her in while they walked outside their hotel in Prague, stared at him with terrified, deep cocoa eyes.

“I know this isn’t real!” The spider yelled at his invisible tormentor, eyes narrowed.

MJ gasped, clutching her throat, legs swinging helplessly in the air. She was lifted off the ground, Mysterio’s hard hand gripping her neck. 

“ _ Do  _ you?” He sneered, arm outstretched.

“MJ!” Before he knew what he was doing, Peter ran at the two of them.

Mysterio’s grip loosened.

And Michelle fell.

She screamed, the sound echoing in the sixteen year-old’s head, as he leapt after her, only for his head to make contact against the floor of the warehouse. He groaned, rubbing his head in pain. A loud cry ripped his mouth open when his lenses flashed bright, pale green.

He gripped the sides of his head, eyes wrenching shut.

“I don’t think you know  _ what _ ’s real, Peter,” Beck said nonchalantly. “ _ I  _ know what’s real.  _ I _ can give you that reassurance.”

Green spots danced against the edge of Peter’s vision, the flash of blinding green light disorienting him, as his surroundings began to change.

Now, he was no longer in Paris. Instead, he was standing outside a Queens lightclub, the flickering neon light illuminating his body.

“You just need to  _ wake up _ !”   


_ WHAM! _

A giant, iron fist slammed into the spider’s body.

The juvenile Avenger crashed through what felt like a glass window, spider webs getting tangled around his neck, wrists and waist.

"We could be _unstoppable_ , Peter. Just think of it."

“AGH!” He covered his face when his lenses flashed to that same green color.  Peter lifted his head, eyes squinted before a blinding flash of hypnotic ringlets of purple and magenta swirled in front of his face.

Instantly recoiling back, the sixteen year old toppled backwards over a neglected, stone grey rock.

A tombstone.

“I mean, if you were good enough, maybe Tony would still be alive,” Mysterio chided.

Tears collected in Peter’s usually bright puppy-dog eyes. A loud yelp erupted from his mouth, and he began to scramble backwards when an iron-clad hand reared from the surface.

Following the hand was the badly decomposing body of Tony Stark. Half of the Iron Man mask had been ripped away, exposing the rotten, decaying skull underneath.

The zombie Iron Man suddenly melted away into a massive Quentin Beck, a mad grin stretching his face upwards. Purple ringlets in his scleras and normally grey-blue irises swirled around in the reflection of Peter’s own eyes, green fog surrounding his blue and red covered body, white lenses flashing bright green.

“You know I’m right,” Beck chuckled. “I, however, could have some use for you. You’ve got some great skills, kid.”

Peter gripped the sides of his head, doubling over, his breathing ragged, bright, copper eyes wide under his mask, the reflection of the blindingly hypnotic green light shining in both eyes, as he stumbled backwards.

“Y’know, Peter… You could be an  _ excellent _ partner for me,” Beck drawled on and on. “Whaddaya say… Partner?”

“Partner……?” The sixteen year-old echoed, green mist swirling in his vision. He jumped when he could feel a cold hand on his shoulder.

Beck’s hand.

The illusionist tipped Peter’s chin up for him to stare into his unusually purple eyes, a malicious grin on his face as he lifted the boy’s mask from his head.

There was a bruise forming on Peter’s forehead when he slammed head first into the cement ground, and a blank, mesmerized look on his face.

Beck watched in morbid fascination as Peter’s normally bright, chocolate eyes faded into a glowing, emerald green color.

The teenager jerked his head away, trying to fight against the foreboding feeling in the pit of his stomach urging him to give in to something he didn’t want to.

_ Give in, Peter… Yes, that’s good…. No resisting… You can do it… He wouldn’t hurt you, now would he? _

Peter pulled his mask back onto his face before a cry escaped his mouth, as he covered his face, the bright green light assaulting his vision once again.

“Y’know, Peter… It’s really easy to fool people when they’re already fooling themselves,” Beck said, watching Peter back up, as flashes of his original illusions started to crumble and fall apart around the teenage Avenger. “But whatever it’s worth Peter, to get you on my side… I really am sorry.”   


Peter stilled his body, his red and blue suit dissipating into his normal, black stealth suit. His eyes were a painful green color as he watched Beck with an emotionless expression on his face under his mask.

The illusion suddenly disappeared, revealing an abandoned rail yard.

Peter inhaled sharply, eyes flickering back to copper. He whipped his head around until he was face to face with the front of a bullet train.

Everything went black, as pain exploded through the left side of his body.

Thanks to his adhesive fingers, Peter managed to grasp the metal side of the train, his fingertips red from the exertion.

Pulling himself inside the train, knees ready to buckle underneath him, the vigilante slid one of the train car doors open. He stumbled inside the car, trying to steady his balance by gripping the backs of the chairs he came across.

Slumping into one of the seats, mask ripped free of his face, which now sported two cuts along his left cheek, and one on his left temple. Blood stained the side of his suit jacket where the train had hit him, blood dribbling out of the corner of his mouth, one eye beginning to bruise.

Grasping his side, Peter started to cough, eyes squeezed shut in pain, as he struggled to breathe through the pain of his broken ribs.

His hand slid off from his side, hanging limply over his midsection, as his head lolled to the side.

With Beck’s voice ringing in his head, Peter willingly let the darkness engulf him once more.

* * *

He won. He won, he won, he won.

He got the glasses, he saved half of Europe, he defeated Beck…

Then why did something feel off?

Peter limped across the London Bridge, no longer wearing his dark, ebony suit. Now, he was wearing a red and black suit with his signature Spider-Man emblem in the center of his chest. It looked a lot worse for wear. It was torn, burnt and the back was melted from being beaten to a bloody mess and set on fire by Stark drones, which made up most, if not all, the damage that lay before him.

Ripping his mask off of his broken, bleeding face, blood dripping from his broken nose and his reopened cuts from the train impact.

His face was covered in ash and grime, just like his sweaty, greasy, chocolate curls, as embers from still flaming cars and other parts of debris that scattered the broken concrete of the bridge.

Grunting with the effort to make his way towards where Happy wanted to meet him, his weary eyes landed on a very familiar figure running towards him. “MJ..!” He exhales her name, picking up the pace of his limping gait.

Michelle Jones watched the beaten spider with worried cocoa eyes. Dropping the mace she had been carrying, she slammed into him, wrapping her arms around him in a tight hug.

“A-are you okay?” MJ asked shakily, eyes wild with panic.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m okay….” Peter squeezed his eyes shut, breathing hitching from pain. “Are you okay? Is everyone else okay?”

“Yeah, yeah everyone’s okay…” The girl responded, heart fluttering when she heard Peter sigh shakily in relief.

“What happened?” He asked into her shoulder, a little too calmly than he should’ve sounded.

“There were just— the drones, and they were following us, and-and then they just stopped!” MJ took a short breath, trying to regain her usually calm composure. “Was that you..?”   


“Yeah..” Peter murmured.

The two teenagers stepped back from the hug, still much too close for it to be normal.

“Did you get him?” The taller girl asked, brow furrowed when Peter’s eyes flickered off towards something over her shoulder. 

“Yeah…” He mumbled, but it sounded forced out.

“Well, I..brought that..” Michelle motioned to the discarded mace behind her, “in case you needed some help…”

“Thanks…” Peter laughed nervously, which she easily echoed, their cheeks turning a shade of pink.

MJ noticed Peter look down at the mask and glasses in his hands. She started to pull something out from her jacket pocket. “Anyway, there’s… A sweaty guy in the tower with us that said he..works for you or something..”

She kept glancing up at the shorter boy, her heart slamming around in her chest cavity when she saw his adorably stupid confused look. “He, um.. He gave me this.” The girl held out her hands to Peter.

In both her palms was the Black Dahlia necklace he had bought her in Venice.

“No..!” Peter’s eyes widened in horror and guilt when he saw the four petals that had been broken off in the skirmish. He gently gripped her hands with his own, grimy ones, making the girl’s dark, cocoa eyes focused on his own.

“Oh, MJ, I’m so sorry…” He rambled. “I had this plan, this  _ stupid _ plan.... And I wrote it all down, where I’d buy you this, and give it to you in Paris atop—”

Michelle suddenly leaned in, pressing her lips against Peter’s in a quick kiss.

Peter blinked, his cheeks darkening from pale pink to scarlet. 

The taller girl standing in front of him smiled sheepishly, unconsciously fiddling with the broken necklace in her hands.

“And you kissed me…” Peter let out a breathless laugh, chocolate puppy-dog eyes focused on Michelle’s dark cocoa ones.

“I don’t really have..much luck when it comes to getting close to people…” She admitted, suddenly feeling shy. She swallowed, eyes never leaving Peter. “So I lied… I wasn’t just watching you because I thought you were Spider-Man,” she admitted, a genuine smile upturning the corners of her lips.

Peter exhaled another laugh, looking down at his mask and E.D.I.T.H. glasses. “That’s great..” He looked back up at the taller sixteen year-old, grinning.

“Black Dahlia,” Michelle commented, smiling. “Like…”

“The murder,” her and Peter said at the same time.

“Yeah…” The shorter boy looked down at the necklace. “I’m sorry it’s broken…” He sighed.

“I actually like it better broken,” MJ said, tilting her head to the side to get a better look at the juvenile Avenger.

Peter felt his face heat up even more when his mouth opened. “I really like you..” He admitted, not caring how awkward his voice sounded.

“I really like you, too,” the girl responded, a hint of confidence in her voice.

After a moment’s hesitation, Peter moved in closer to Michelle until their chests were touching, leaving a gentle kiss on her lips, just like how she did to him.

Foreheads nearly pressed together, the girl smiled, gently raising her hand to Peter’s cheek.

The spider stood up on tiptoe to reach the taller girl, one hand gently holding onto her arm, as he rested his lips atop her own.

The kiss was a fraction of a few moments longer than the previous two, but it still filled Peter’s chest with a warm, tingly feeling he didn’t want to go away.

Regretfully breaking the kiss for air, both Peter and Michelle stared at each other for a brief moment before the girl took a half-step back.

“Okay… I should, um, I should...probably get back to the class,” she said breathlessly, tucking her gift into her black pants pocket.

“I’m going… Uh, yeah…” Peter laughed nervously, watching Michelle stoop down to pick up her discarded mace. “I dunno.”   


She held the handle of the iron object in her hands, shrugging a bit, when her eyes landed on the shorter Avenger, who started favoring his left leg again. “Just in case.” She flashed him her signature half-smile.

Peter watched in awed amazement, still able to feel her lips against his as she walked off back the way she came from.

Glancing over her shoulder, Michelle smiled, her disheveled ponytail swinging behind her when she focused back on the road ahead of her.

Peter’s awed look faded into an undreadable one. His smile fell, his lips creating a thin line, green swirling in his irises.

“Always knew you had it in you, kid. Y’know, I’m surprised you haven’t tried that sooner.”   


The spider slowly turned around, facing a badly beaten, very much alive, Quentin Beck.

He was wearing some strange morph suit one would use for creating special effects, walking slowly towards Peter.

“C’mon. I’ll buy you a drink.” He placed his hand on the sixteen year-old’s back, making him wince from his injuries.

“Not twenty-one,” Peter responded emotionlessly.

Beck chuckled, shaking his head. He led the juvenile Avenger off, as a bead of blood dripped down the back of Peter’s neck.

**Author's Note:**

> Oh boy, what a ride. I have little to no knowledge when it comes to hypnotism/mind manipulation, but I'll try my best! The first chapter of my upcoming Lady and the Tramp Au will be published both here and on my Tumblr (wyldespiderraptor) on Friday!


End file.
